wrestling / Columns

News and Views From South of the Border 10.17.10: Between Heaven And Hell

October 17, 2010 | Posted by Francisco Ramirez

Welcome to the very 1st edition of “News and Views from South of the Border”, the weekly column that takes a look at everything going on in the Lucha-Libre world. Feel free to leave any advice since this is a work in progress.

Lo Bueno/The Good

Between Heaven and Hell

On the 15th of October CMLL ran a great card in the lucha holy land, Arena Mexico. The main event consisted of a match between El Negro Casas and Charly Manson, where the loser would forfeit his hair. Basically a hair vs. hair match, to not make things so complicated. Charly Manson came out the victor due to some help from heel ref El Tirantes. On a personal note, the heel ref has got to go, it’s an old and tired concept and all it does is piss people off. This match was to be the climax of the Indy Invaders angle that sees former Indy luchadores, Charly Manson, Mr. Aguila, Alebrije, Olimpico, Histeria II and Psicosis II basically invading CMLL. Charly, Olimpico and Mr. Aguila are the only ones to even be worth mentioning, but Olimpico lost his mask to Sombra about a month ago, the rest have yet to make an impact and are seemingly in a losing streak. Negro seemingly pushed Charly Manson up the ladder with this as most thought Charly Manson would lose his hair and the Invaders would be scrapped. This show also saw the further development of the Sombra and Olimpico feud as well as a tribute to Blue Panther for his 32 year career.

Lo Malo/The Bad

Alex Koslov Leaves AAA

I would label this more as bittersweet instead of bad but since this column is set with an emphasis on Lucha-Libre, losing a talent of this caliber is downright devastating! Alex Koslov had his last day with AAA this past 10th of October, leaving for the great training program up in Florida, FCW. Koslov had one hell of a time in Mexico making a name for himself first in CMLL and making himself an even bigger name in AAA. While in AAA he was a member of D-Mex along with Rocky Romero and X-pac, he held the AAA Cruiserweight Title as well as the AAA Mixed Tag Titles.

Lo Feo/The Ugly

El Hijo Del Santo VS. AAA

Wow, if I could summarize this news story with one word, it would have to begin with a capital F, be four letters long and end with a K and with the firing of my newbie behind! Honestly I’ve re-written this article three times now, so this fourth and hopefully final time I will leave it in chronological order so here we go.

10/08/2010: So El Hijo del Santo writes a column every week on the Mexican newspaper “Record”, his last column consisted of a history lesson on Lucha Libre and on lucha’s current state. El Hijo del Santo blasted AAA stating that they chose to step on a beautiful sport opting instead to copy North American wrestling who consider themselves entertainment and not a sport. He also stated that he returned to AAA ala RVD, that’s “A One Shot Deal” for those who have forgotten the joke, and is disappointed he did so, going as far as to say that AAA has yet to pay him!

10/13/2010: AAA responded back sending out a press release attacking El Hijo del Santo making claims that El Hijo Del Santo has trademarked “La de a caballo” better known to us English speakers as the Camel Clutch. Thus if anyone applies the hold on television they will need to pay El Hijo Del Santo residuals! AAA goes on to mention that the legendary Gory Guerrero which at one point teamed with the original El Santo, is recognized as the creator of the move, thereby El Hijo del Santo has no right or reason to attempt to hold the trademark, hell he claims to be the creator according to AAA! AAA goes on to say that he is trying to trademark the finisher his father passed on to him along with some other un-named moves. Here is the kicker; the trademark is not for a wrestling hold, but for dance steps! Which if true goes against everything that El Hijo Del Santo wrote in his article, AAA‘s claims have not been validated as of yet. One interesting thing to note though is that AAA did produce trademark numbers and the title of the trademark so all signs point to this being true.

10/15/2010: In an interesting turn of events El Hijo Del Santo appears in a gossip T.V. show touting a suit, mask and lawyer! He is shown a clip of AAA president Marisela Peña discussing the current lawsuit. Peña states that El Hijo Del Santo is suing due to his image appearing on the Triple-Mania DVD, an event in which he did participate. Along with the image the lawsuit also consists of his trademarked “dance choreography” being shown on the DVD. She goes on to say that Santo is basically being greedy and has bitten that hand that feeds him. Furthermore she states that Santo is tarnishing his father’s legacy, and he should be wrestling not dancing or coming up with “dumb” lawsuits to make a living. During the show, Santo tried to defend himself but seemed nervous and had his lawyer step in for him on numerous occasions. He states that he doesn’t dance, he wrestles which basically contradicts his trademark, and he also says that those are HIS creations! Towards the end he goes on to say that what he had with AAA was his word that he would be at AAA and be paid an X amount of money which he was not paid, and he also did not strike any sort of deal for his image to be on the DVD. On one last hysterical question he is asked if he can sue because both Santo and AAA had given their word, which he replies, “No because there was no contract”! If there are any Spanish speakers reading this I have posted a video of the interview.

It seems that many will be taking sides now but El Hijo del Santo has done much to seemingly tarnish his legacy. He has been basically banned from CMLL and now even AAA; he has had family issues due to him not allowing his nephew, who now wrestles as Axel, to take on the “Santo” name as well, going as far as to take legal action against his own nephew and now this. It will be interesting to see what El Hijo del Santo will reply with, but it looks like this will be one nasty, but interesting feud!

Lucha Poster of the Week

Show Results

CMLL 10/15/2010 Arena Mexico, “Entre El Cielo Y El Infierno” Event

1. Pierothito, Pequeño Warrior, Pequeño Olimpico Win Over Mascarita Dorada, Ultimo Dragoncito, Shockercito
2. Amapola, Princess Blanca, Princess Sugey Win Over Marcela, Estrellita, Tiffany
3. Ray Mendza Jr. Mr. Aguila, Histeria Win Over Blue Panther, Diamante, Metro
4. Match Relampago: Dragon Rojo Win Over Valiente
5. Mascara Dorada, La Mascara, Sombra Win Over Olimpico, Psicosis, Alebrije
6. Hair VS Hair Match: Charly Manson Win Over Negro Casas

AAA 10/14/2010 Guadalajara *Special show during countdown for the Pan-American games*

1. Faby Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata Win Over Polvo de Estrellas, Mini Psicosis, Sexy Star
2. Aerostar, Argenis, Super Fly Win Over Dark Ozz, Dark Cuervo, Dark Escoria
3. Dr. Wagner Jr., La Parka, El Mesias Win Over Chessman, Zorro, Hernandez

Lucha Video Break

This week we take a look at Dragon Rojo taking on Sangre Azteca in a match that basically laid the foundation for Poder Mejica, a stable that Dragon Rojo left to join Los Guerreros Del Atlantida.

Dragon Rojo VS Sangre Azteca 1

Dragon Rojo VS Sangre Azteca 2

Dragon Rojo VS Sangre Azteca 3

Future Forecast

CMLL

Ultimo Guerrero is set to defend the CMLL World Heavyweight Title against La Mascara who has been on a roll lately even dethroning the red hot heel El Volador, becoming the new CMLL Light Heavyweight Champion. Also Los Guerreros De Atlantida just received a new member, Dragon Rojo has left Poder Mejica and joined Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero in a stable that many thought was on its last legs. These two veterans are sure to lend a helping hand to this young star, as he keeps getting better and better. What now with the Indy Invaders, after the win from Charly Manson the question has to be asked, what happens now with the invaders.

AAA

Zorro and Nicho el Millonario are set to clash in a hair vs. hair match this coming 30th of October in Ciudad Juarez. All eyes are on Zorro losing his hair, especially if all the rumors of his signing to TNA are true, but I wouldn’t be surprised If we do get a swerve on this one since TNA and AAA are still working together and this might be as simple as a talent exchange, hell AAA has had Hernandez for months now, so Zorro heading to Dixieland might not be permanent.

Indy

It’s funny that this would be a lucha column and I would be mentioning Sabu and Nosawa, but it’s true, Nosawa will be defending the X-LAW title against Sabu in a card that also has Super Crazy facing Joe Lider and Shiryu Dragon in a 3-way match. X-LAW for those who don’t know is basically an Extreme Lucha Indy fed. They don’t run shows that often but when they do they can be of good quality. Look no further than former X-LAW champion LA Par-K defending the title against Sabu in a past show.

Lucha-Libre presents Mr. Check Me Out I Suck

I love Lucha-Libre, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes some of the worst gimmicks ever are made simply to try to cash in on pop-culture, or someone dumber than a Jersey Shore fan is cooking them up. So with that said I leave you with the 1st ever “Mr. Check Me Out I Suck” of the week and this week the honor goes to